Acadian journalist appointed lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick

VICTORIA – Premier David Eby says the British Columbia cabinet he introduces Monday will be tasked with focusing on issues voters strongly told the government they are most concerned about: affordability, health care, community safety, housing and the economy.

Eby’s New Democrats won a slim, one-seat majority in last month’s election, taking 47 seats in B.C.’s 93-seat legislature.

John Rustad’s upstart B.C. Conservatives emerged from winning no seats in the 2020 election to capturing 44 seats, while the Greens elected two members.

“Our focus in government will be very consistent with the message British Columbians sent us back to the legislature with,” Eby said at a news conference following a ceremony to swear in his New Democrat colleagues.

“They want us to be focused on the basics,” he said. “They want us to be focused on the issues that they are thinking about around the kitchen table: affordability, the cost of daily life, whether or not they can find a place to afford. That our health-care system is strong and supporting them and that we are growing our economy.”

Eby said the cabinet will be focused “on those issues and delivering for British Columbians on those priorities they have for us.”

The premier could be looking to fill up to a dozen new positions, depending on the size of his new cabinet, including for ministers in finance, transportation, labour, Indigenous relations, education, environment and agriculture.

Eby lost several current cabinet ministers in last month’s election, including Rachna Singh in education, Nathan Cullen in land, water and resources, and Pam Alexis at agriculture.

Veteran cabinet ministers George Heyman, Harry Bains, Katrine Conroy and Rob Fleming did not run again for election.

Of the NDP’s new caucus, 29 are returning members to the legislature and 18 are newly elected.

Mike Bernier, a former B.C. Liberal cabinet minister who ran in the election as an Independent following the suspension of the Opposition BC United campaign, said Eby will lean on several remaining veteran ministers in the new cabinet, but there are large holes to fill, especially in northern B.C.

“This is going to be an interesting scenario for Premier Eby on Monday putting a cabinet together, because it’s just not with the new people but it’s also the lack of diversity from around the province with the outcome of the election,” said Bernier, who was defeated by the B.C. Conservative candidate after representing his Peace River-South riding for three terms.

Among the new members from outside of Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island are: Tamara Davidson, of North Coast-Haida Gwaii; Steve Morissette, of Kootenay-Monashee; and Randene Neill, of Powell River-Sunshine Coast.

Brittny Anderson of Kootenay Central and Harwinder Sandhu of Vernon-Lumby were re-elected.

“He’s definitely going to have to hand an olive branch to rural B.C. in some way,” said Bernier. “We will definitely see a few of those rural people, I feel, in cabinet. That is going to be one of the challenges government is going to be with, there is no true rural experience and representation there.”

But Eby will have the opportunity to lean on several experienced New Democrats for his cabinet, said Bernier, suggesting veteran ministers Mike Farnworth and Ravi Kahlon will take on top positions.

He said longtime Health Minister Adrian Dix could be moved to another senior post.

“Let’s just say Adrian is already the longest serving health minister in B.C. history,” Bernier said. “That ministry is a very tough one to run. He has been the face of that through one of the most difficult times in history when it comes to the pandemic here in Canada. He rode through that I think the best he could. He’s done his job.”

Eby said he has heard the message from voters that the NDP must strive to be a government that represents the entire province.

Bernier said Eby appears to have also accepted that he may have to alter his style of governing, which has previously been one of concentrating power in the premier’s office.

In recent days, there have been several staffing departures in Eby’s office, including Matt Smith, who served as chief of staff for two years.

“Premier Eby is a smart guy and I think he recognized some of the criticism he was getting of being a bit of a top-down or centralized kind of approach that he had in the later part of his first term,” Bernier said.

The recent death of former premier John Horgan, who succumbed to cancer on Tuesday, could have given Eby a deeper opportunity to reflect on his style of governing compared to his predecessor’s, he said.

“John Horgan, who was one of those amazing leaders, who if you wanted to go see him about housing, he would turn around and say, ‘go talk to the minister,'” said Bernier. “I think you are going to see Eby loosening the reins a little bit.”

Rustad said he and his large B.C. Conservative cabinet are preparing to battle Eby’s NDP in the legislature on issues of natural resources, education, public safety, housing and the economy.

“All I know is right now our resource sector is in shambles,” he said. “Nobody’s getting permits.”

Rustad said Eby is creating an image of doing something, “but he doesn’t actually do it. We are going to be very aggressive on David Eby, calling out his faults.”

Eby said earlier that he plans to recall the legislature for a short sitting after his cabinet appointments to elect a Speaker.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 17, 2024.

OTTAWA – If no political party is willing to say uncle, the drawn-out stalemate in the House of Commons is heading for an unprecedented situation that could amount to a tacit lack of confidence in the government, without anyone in Parliament casting a vote.

The Conservatives and Bloc Québécois have already announced plans to try to bring down the government and trigger an election with a non-confidence motion at the next opportunity. But there’s no telling when that opportunity will come, because the House has been gridlocked in a filibuster for more than a month.

That may seem like good news for the embattled Liberal minority government, despite the total lack of progress on legislation, but the standoff is inching Parliament ever closer to a procedural cliff that would prevent the Liberals from raising the funds they need to run the government.

“That would be unprecedented. I don’t know what exactly would happen,” said constitutional lawyer Lyle Skinner.

“That’s a clear sign that something unusual is occurring, and at a certain point in time it’s going to be seen as a loss of confidence without a confidence vote ever occurring.”

Parliament is set to resume Monday after being off for a week for Remembrance Day, where it is expected a weeks-long filibuster will pick up where it left off before the break.

The Liberals and Conservatives are each blaming the other for the state of the House.

The Conservatives have promised that House business will remain at a standstill until the government hands over unredacted documents to Parliament and the RCMP related to a green tech fund that misspent government money.

The Liberals say the Conservatives are filibustering their own motion and should instead move the talks to a committee, as the Speaker ordered.

“We are committed to getting things done for Canadians in Parliament. Important legislation is before the House, and we believe the Conservatives should stop playing obstructionist partisan games so that MPs can debate those bills,” Liberal House leader Karina Gould said in a statement.

Gould called the filibuster “reckless and irresponsible” and said the Conservatives are “putting their own partisan self-interest ahead of Parliament’s responsibilities.”

The government insists that it is out of order for parliament to be ordered to hand over documents for use not by the House of Commons or its members but by a third party, in this case the RCMP.

Opposition House leader Andrew Scheer shot back to say that if Gould really cared, she could get the House back to work immediately “by stopping the Liberal coverup and releasing all of the documents, as ordered by Parliament.”

The ongoing debate, which supersedes all other business, doesn’t allow the government to raise any money, which is one of the central reasons Parliament exists.

Legislation to raise funds — called supply bills — are special, said Skinner, because if the government can’t convince Parliament to pass them it shows the House has lost confidence in the government. Loss of confidence can trigger an election.

If the government can’t even bring its supply bills to a vote, it raises all kinds of questions.

“It’s almost like entering into a U.S.-style shutdown because nobody wants an election. And there is no playbook for that,” Skinner said.

Nothing so dire is expected in the near term.

The government will ask for money to cover unexpected expenses in December. If it never comes to a vote because of the filibuster, that could create a short-term budget crunch.

But if the situation persists into March, there will be far greater consequences that could indeed mimic a U.S.-style shutdown. The government wouldn’t be able to spend any money in the new fiscal year, and the Governor General would have to take notice.

There are still political off-ramps to avoid the situation, but so far no party seems prepared to take them.

Another opposition party like the New Democrats could work with the Liberals to put forward a motion to shut down the debate. But so far the NDP appear content to watch the Liberals and Conservatives hoist themselves by their own procedural petard for now and have not signalled any intention to put an end to the filibuster.

The Bloc have offered to do exactly that, but only if the Liberals agree to their demands, including putting up $16 billion over five years to increase old age security payments for seniors under the age of 75.

The Conservatives say they’ll only stop the filibuster if the Liberals hand over the documents, or the NDP agree to help bring down the government.

The Liberals can’t do much on their own except call an election, which will allow funds to flow while the government is in caretaker mode, or prorogue Parliament and put a hard reset on the proceedings.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May says she doesn’t think it’ll come to that.

“I think that there’s a very strong likelihood that the majority of individual members of Parliament and the larger parties will see a benefit in making sure we don’t have a crisis on continuity of supply for government business,” May said at a press conference this month.

All that requires is for the parties to co-operate in a way they haven’t for weeks.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 17, 2024.

AVONDALE, N.L. – The four women sipping tea around an antique wooden table in rural Newfoundland said they weren’t looking for much in a mate: kindness, humour, a good sense of fun and, ideally, a full set of teeth.

Sick of dating apps and with few places to meet men in person, the women were at a new speed-dating event for seniors at a railway station museum in Avondale, N.L., about 40 kilometres southwest of St. John’s.

They hoped to put down their phones, look someone in the eye and make a real connection.

“I’m retired. I babysit my grandpuppy, I go visit my single girlfriends. At my age, I’m like, OK, where do you go?” asked Daphne Simmons, 65. Her sense of humour had everyone at ease within minutes, even as a reporter watched them go on six-minute dates.

“If I was 40 or 30, I’d be downtown,” Simmons said, referring to St. John’s, where there are plenty of bars and clubs in which to catch someone’s eye. “I met my late husband downtown, and he was the best man that ever walked this Earth.”

Single men her age are exhausted too, she added. Those she has met through apps and websites have the same complaints trying to meet women.

“I might have to start crashing funerals,” Simmons joked.

It is widely agreed that dating can be difficult. The women in Avondale on a recent Friday afternoon bonded over a shared portfolio of horror stories that would make love-seekers of any age wince with recognition: online matches that will message but not meet, promising suitors that ultimately reveal they’re married or attached, and in-person dates with someone who looks nothing like their profile picture.

But older adults have added complications.

Jenny Temple organized the event in Newfoundland, in part because she’s hoping to find a match for her mother, Annie White, an elegant 75-year-old whose home-baked tea buns were so tasty at least one attendee hustled a few out of the building in a napkin at the end of the afternoon.

Temple teaches movement, yoga and nutrition classes for seniors in rural communities outside St. John’s, including Avondale, and she saw a need for some way other than the Plenty of Fish dating app for older adults to connect.

“I would hear the stories of people lonely, some are depressed, maybe they moved here and they don’t know anybody, so they’re even looking for just friendship,” Temple, 49, said in an interview after the event.

She saw, too, that ageism can be a barrier. Sometimes children or grandchildren disapprove of them dating, or dismiss it as silly, Temple said. Some older adults hold themselves back, worried people might think they’re dating too soon after the death of a spouse.

“There’s this whole mindset in society — we’re so used to seeing, even in the movies, younger people dating. You don’t see older adults,” she said. “So I thought, shag this, I’m going to give this a try.”

She named her event How Ya Gettin’ On after a popular Newfoundland expression for “How are you?”

Across the country in Victoria, dating coach Cherie MacCormack said watching older adults struggle to connect inspired her to start offering matchmaking services last month. She’s been coaching and hosting events for singles of all ages since 2013, and with a roster of more than 1,400 past clients, she figured she could do more to help people find love.

Older adults aren’t looking for someone to buy a house or have children with. Instead, they approach relationships with a wealth of life experience, and they’re hoping to find someone with common interests to spend time with, the 52-year-old said in an interview.

That life experience often means older adults know exactly what they need in a partner, and what they don’t want, she said. But sometimes, past heartbreak — divorce, death — can make them more hesitant to trust someone new.

“Everyone deserves to have a life partner,” she said. “I would love to find love for people in their 80s and 90s. I don’t think it matters how old you are, there’s somebody out there for everyone.”

In Avondale, Simmons smiled as she came back from her speed-dating round with the men at the event. “It was good,” she said, still smiling, but otherwise tight-lipped.

In all, eight women and three men took part. Temple was hoping for higher numbers — 25 men and 25 women would be ideal, she said — but it was only the first event. The next one is planned for St. John’s.

There was at least one big win: several of the attendees left the event together and went to a local bar to hear a band play. Regardless of whether any of them wind up dating, they had still become friends.

“It’s just pure joy to be honest,” Temple said. “Because I know some of their stories, the loneliness. And now, when they leave here today, they might have somebody to call upon that they didn’t have before.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 17, 2024.